Schools 'ill-equipped to deal with artificial intelligence'
By And The Selina Economic Limerick, Study Authored Of Of Social Professor University And The Associate Marcus Institute Was At Picture Mccoy Ann Quinn, Research Stock
Schools are ill-equipped to deal with the onslaught of advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology due to a lack of clear directions on its usage.
New research highlights major gaps in schools’ procedures around technology, with many relying on outdated policies that lack clear guidelines on recent technological advances, particularly AI.
It comes as teachers have raised growing concerns about AI and its potential misuse in new Leaving Cert project work, called additional assessment components (AACs).
Worth 40% of a student’s overall grades, AACs are due to begin roll out from September 2025.
Analysing the acceptable usage policy of more than 50 of the largest second-level schools in Ireland, researchers found that very few (11%) had policies in place current for the academic year 2024/25.
Many had policies in place that dated from before 2020, and none had policies that specifically referenced AI and how it is used in the school.
While AI has its positive uses in education, for instance in AI-powered apps such as Duolingo, it also brings challenges, including bias, privacy issues, and the risk of academic misconduct.
Almost 45% of school leaders who took part in the study were in support of students using AI tools such as Chat GPT but only once guidelines are in place.
A further third of those surveyed cautioned against such use unless strict guidelines are in place.
More than half identified strong ethical or privacy concerns regarding the use of AI tools and 44% identified some concerns which need to be addressed by policies.
The study was authored by Ann Marcus-Quinn, associate professor at University of Limerick, and Selina McCoy of the Economic and Social Research Institute.
For schools, the acceptable usage policy (AUP) is the ‘law of the land’ when it comes to the rules for technology, according to Ms Marcus-Quinn:
"A lot of them haven’t been updated. I have seen one AUP that referenced a floppy disk.
Schools often lack the resources or centralised guidance to frequently update AUPs, leading to outdated policies that no longer reflect digital realities, according to Ms Quinn.
However, schools should explicitly address AI’s role as part of their AUP, covering data privacy, ethical usage, and limitations to prevent misuse.
“Schools haven’t gotten the support from the department [of Education] in terms of AI and what to put into that document. What they need from the department are full, comprehensive guidelines of how AI should be used.”
“The department needs to issue as soon as possible full comprehensive guidelines on how to use AI, both in terms of within the classroom, in terms of homework, and the State examinations aspect of it as well, whether that’s the classroom-based-assessments at Junior Cycle or the new AACs for Senior Cycle.”
“Without that clarity, without that guidance, you have teachers and students left really uncertain at how to incorporate AI tools, particularly into learning and teaching as a whole, whether that’s classroom, outside of class, within the school, homework or something more formal like the assessment for a State examination.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said it is currently developing guidelines on the use of AI in education for teaching and learning, with the support of Oide, the support service for teachers.
“It is intended that these initial guidelines, which are expected to be circulated to schools in quarter one, 2025, will provide an overarching awareness of the opportunities and risks associated with use of AI and what should be taken into consideration in using AI in a safe, responsible and ethical manner.”
Decisions regarding the use and deployment of digital technology, including AI, in schools is a matter for the board of management of each school, she added.
“It is also the responsibility of each individual school to select the resources, if any, that it will use to support its implementation and mediation of the curriculum.”
